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HOMELAND SECURITY

The U.S. Military is Not Woke, But the Woke Threat is Real The potential Achilles’ heel of our military. by Jesse Petrilla

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-u-s-military-is-not-woke-but-the-woke-threat-is-real/

I remember the day vividly, standing in formation in the hot Kentucky sun at Ft. Knox. “Look to your left and to your right,” the sergeant said. “You are all wearing the same uniform, you all bleed the same color blood. There is no color here other than green.” But by the end of my career, there were directives coming down from Washington D.C. telling us that some of our service members were somehow different, as was the case when we were told we should counsel some of our soldiers letting them know they can change the gender on their ID cards. I wasn’t about to single out a soldier, and I doubt very many did in any branch of the services.

But aside from causing a few eyerolls, woke policies in the military are more of a distraction at this point than anything else and are thankfully being largely ignored other than service members being ordered to sit through the regularly occurring death by PowerPoint. However, that in no way diminishes the very real threat it poses.

The United States military remains the most effective fighting force on the planet, and although wokeness has not yet significantly infected the military, the woke cancer continues to grow, threatening the cohesion of America’s fighting forces. Every hour that a service member wastes sitting through unnecessary woke briefings, is an hour lost that should have been spent on warfighter training, leaving us less prepared for the next war.

Woke policies, unnecessary political correctness at the expense of readiness or the success of a mission, have been and continue to be pushed at the behest of politicians inside the beltway. But the problem with their efforts to change the way our military operates is that it doesn’t need changing. The military is one place where true diversity has already been achieved.

Woke Ways Shrink U.S. Military to Smallest Fighting Force in Eight Decades Milt Harris

https://pjmedia.com/miltharris/2023/12/18/woke-ways-shrink-us-military-to-smallest-fighting-force-in-8-decades-n4924846

It was bound to happen. Another unwanted side effect of woke culture is raising its ugly head. The U.S. military is now at its lowest levels in over 80 years, and the reason is not general disinterest, as some would have you believe. Military experts have sounded the alarm about the Biden administration’s “woke” policies within the Department of Defense as the U.S. military is poised to be the smallest it has been in eight decades, while facing emerging global threats.

Retired Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille accused the White House of treating U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East like “cannon fodder,” claiming that the Biden administration’s leadership has heavily impacted the recruitment crisis.

“The few in the military have always carried the burden for the many, but the alarming decrease in numbers not only poses a threat to our national security and defense strategy, but it also raises a question: can we confront the emerging global threats? This is not a recruitment issue. This is a leadership problem,” Sarraille told Carley Shimkus on “Fox & Friends First.”

Sarraille continued: “Talent begets talent, and quite frankly, why would this younger generation want to go work for an administration that uses their troops as cannon fodder in the Middle East like we’re seeing? The administration, instead of creating a lethal force in raising our technology capabilities, has decided to implement woke progressive policies like renaming bases and funding or providing additional funding for DEI programs.”

Mike Glover is an Army vet and a counterterrorism expert. He teaches a special operations prep course in Utah. Glover has seen the number of sign-ups for his course dwindle as the various military branches struggle to recruit new service members. He believes the crisis stems from low morale, which has ultimately been impacted by a progressive policy push within the DOD.

China’s “Unrestricted Warfare” Against the US by Lawrence A. Franklin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20238/china-unrestricted-warfare
• The Chinese Communist Party, led by China’s President Xi Jinping, has, over the years, by espionage, intellectual property theft, hacking, spying and militarizing artificial islands, initiated a bitter conflict between China and the US.
• China appears determined to “neutralize” states that might challenge its claim to the South and East China Seas. If successful, China’s naval assets will dominate a large portion of the world’s commercial sea lanes, if the US is unable — or unwilling — to knit together a serious formal military alliance of democratic states in the Indo-Pacific.
• Rather than fight a war, China apparently is hoping to envelop the US in Latin America by establishing Chinese-controlled ports and numerous bilateral Belt and Road Initiative projects in Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Brazil and Argentina.
• Is the US ready?
China is fully engaged in a multi-front war against the United States. This “unrestricted warfare” against America has several dimensions: technological, space, military, political, economic, digital, psychological, informational and diplomatic. In fact, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) openly declared a “people’s war” against the US in a May 14, 2019 edition of the People’s Daily.
The CCP, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping, has, over the years, by espionage, intellectual property theft, hacking, spying and militarizing artificial islands, initiated a bitter conflict between China and the US.
CCP propaganda, however, claims that China is supposedly only responding to America’s instigation of a “new cold war” against the People’s Republic of China (PRC), depicted as a policy to “contain China’s rise.”
The two all-encompassing themes of the CCP’s offensive are China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and a Global Developmental Initiative (GDI).

Border Agents on Alert After 10 IEDs Recovered Lincoln Brown

https://pjmedia.com/lincolnbrown/2023/12/15/border-agents-on-alert-after-10-ieds-recovered-n4924778

We live in an odd time. Ours is the era caught between the normal life of the past and a dystopian future. We are watching things come to pass that, less than a decade ago, most of us would never have envisioned. We have front-row seats to the devolution of society. I will spare you the litany of those things that have gone awry in the past few years as America and the world approach terminal velocity.

Aside from 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Japanese incursions into Alaska, and balloon bombs during the Second World War, for the most part, combat has been unknown on or close to American soil. In fact, we now have a generation of people who know little, if anything about 9/11. 

The concept that a foreign agent or power would commit an act of war in or even near the United States has seemed for so long to be impractical and impossible. Some would like to believe that 9/11 was a fluke. Nothing like that could ever happen again. Hamas is a liberation organization, and everyone who crosses the border illegally is just here to make a better life for themselves. Only a racist, xenophobic conservative would ever believe otherwise. 

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection has told its agents to keep an eye out for IEDs. In our arrogance, we tend to think that things like IEDs are confined to war zones in distant lands. But on Wednesday, Mexican authorities located ten such devices on the Mexican side. Fox News reported that the IEDs were found after what amounted to a firefight near Tucson between two rival cartels. Each side wanted control of the area that has a gap in the border fence. That gap has previously served as a portal for transporting drugs. It is currently used for human trafficking. One suspect was found with an AK-47, two magazines, loose rounds, and a handgun. 

Granted, Americans were not the targets of this firefight, but does anyone think that the cartels care if non-combatants are caught in the crossfire? And how long will these sorts of skirmishes be contained to the border? Cartels already have shown that they have no regard for human life. The prevalence of drug and human trafficking is evidence enough of that. The Fox story said that even as Republicans try to fight for tougher border security, the Biden administration is digging in its heels, claiming that such measures would “cut off nearly all access to humanitarian protections in ways that are inconsistent with our Nation’s values and international obligations.” 

Today’s Hyper-Connected Network Systems Face Myriad Security Challenges Chuck Brooks

https://www.securityinfowatch.com/critical-infrastructure/article/53078430/todays-hyper-connected-network-systems-face-myriad-security-challenges

The current state of the cyber ecosystem is a precarious one. The perimeters have become blurred, and as the capabilities and connectivity of cyber devices have grown exponentially, so have cyber intrusions from sophisticated malware to both Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) Industrial Control Systems (ICS), and SCADA networks. The threat is even more amplified as those networks are converging.

According to PMMI Business Intelligence’s “2021 Cybersecurity: Assess Your Risk,” report from, Information Technology (IT) attacks “specifically target the enterprise IT systems at a manufacturer, seeking to gain entry through vectors such as email, a CRM system, or an ERP program, which can span across an operation.” Operational Technology (OT) attacks “are designed to exploit the systems that are directly on the plant floor. An OT attack can originate through vectors such as individual sensors on the production line, SCADA/HMI panels, or even unsecured PLCs.” Cybersecurity 101: The Difference Between IT and OT Attacks | OEM Magazine

But in our increasingly hyper-connected internet environments, most physical security systems have become tethered to IT networks and evolving cloud infrastructure. The trend of integration of Industrial hardware and software combined with growing networked IT sensors is redefining the surface attack opportunities for hackers across all digital infrastructures.

The IT OT Convergence Supply Chain

Protecting the fusion of IT/OT networks from cyber-attacks is an urgent challenge that requires orchestration. They all have unique operational frameworks, access points, and a variety of legacy systems and are intertwined with varying regulation and compliance protocols. And a lack of trained skilled workforce is a continual issue in IT, OT and ISC cybersecurity.

Houthi Terrorists Join Iran’s Axis of Evil Against Israel and the United States Will Biden ever take action against Iran and its terrorist proxies? by Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/houthi-terrorists-join-irans-axis-of-evil-against-israel-and-the-united-states/

The Houthis, who control about 80 percent of Yemen, are yet another one of Iran’s multiple terrorist proxies who are menacing Israel militarily and endangering U.S. military personnel. But the Biden administration, which ended the Trump-era designation of the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization” in February 2021, has taken no action whatsoever to restore the Houthi terrorist designation or to deter the Houthis with military force. And more generally, the Biden administration has allowed the Iranian regime to acquire the wealth in oil revenues and unfrozen monies it needs to lavishly fund its terrorist proxies.

Using missiles and drones launched from Yemen, the Houthi terrorists have aimed their aerial attacks at Israeli territory, have targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and have threatened at least one U.S. warship. The U.S. has only played defense so far, downing some Houthi missiles and drones. Just recently, according to  the Times of Israel, the U.S. military reported that a United States “warship shot down three drones in self-defense during an hourlong assault.”

Despite the Houthis’ multiple provocations, the Biden administration has not yet taken the offensive and retaliated by going after the Houthis’ missile and drone launching sites in Yemen and knocking out coastal radar sites. The Biden administration’s sheepishness in engaging the Houthis at their source is even more pathetic than the Biden administration’s timid responses to the scores of attacks upon U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Syria by Iran-sponsored terrorist militias.

The Navy: Dead in the Water? By Brent Ramsey

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/12/05/the_navy_dead_in_the_water_996793.html

“Mission: The United States is a maritime nation, and the U.S. Navy protects America at sea. Alongside our allies and partners, we defend freedom, preserve economic prosperity, and keep the seas open and free. Our nation is engaged in long-term competition. To defend American interests around the globe, the U.S. Navy must remain prepared to execute our timeless role, as directed by Congress and the President.” The preceding statement is from the U. S. Navy’s website.

There are many indicators that the Navy is at increasing risk of mission failure.

Missing recruiting goals by thousands for two years in a row, missing its goal for FY 2023 by over 7000 new recruits. The impact of missing recruiting goals is cumulative. Its impact does not subside if in subsequent years deficits are not made up. Lack of manpower adds to the strain of a Navy struggling to meet its national priorities overseas. Failing to recruit enough people to man the Navy is a result of many factors. Since the Afghanistan debacle, the public’s faith in the military has plummeted to new lows. With relatively low unemployment, the competition for young people is high. American youth are less fit, less capable of serving in the military than at any time in our history. Fewer young people want to serve as the political left teaches them to hate our country, academia promotes socialism, and race hustlers malign our country for its supposed racism and white supremacy. Divisive ideologies like Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are now promoted vigorously up and down the chain of command in the Navy. These ideologies alienate the youth of what for generations was the most fertile recruiting grounds, white, southern, Christian Americans. This demographic is now increasingly averse to serving in our new politically correct Navy of DEI, Pride month, correct pronouns, drag queens, and transgender people. If the Navy cannot recruit now for the existing numbers of ships we have, we have no hope whatsoever of filling out the ranks of a Navy with much higher numbers of ships.

Recently, due to the international wars simultaneously in Ukraine and Israel, and high tension in the Taiwan strait/South China Sea, the U.S. Navy had an almost unprecedented 8 Carriers at sea at the same time. The only three not at sea were unavailable due to long-term maintenance. Normally, the Navy might have three or four carriers at sea at one time. Navy ships and crews continually operating wear out rapidly. Typical deployments last 6 months. The USS Ford has been deployed for 7 months and SECDEF just extended its deployment in the eastern Med for the second time. The longer the deployment the more worn out the crew and the higher rates of equipment failures become. As deployments go on for longer and longer, the size of the crew shrinks due to illness, pregnancy, injury, and suicides. Typically ships returning to home port after a lengthy deployment are missing a substantial number of the deploying crew. This puts much more stress and strain on the remaining crewmen. The international situation with multiple wars demanding our attention simultaneously is eroding our Navy’s readiness at a high rate. When the ships and their crews wear out, there will be no alternative but to return them to port for re-fit and rest for the crews regardless of whatever pressing mission the ship is on. That the Navy does not have enough ships is now obvious to even the most casual observer when multiple hot spots in distant seas occur. When the proverbial stuff hits the fan, the very first question everyone, including the President asks is, “Where is the nearest carrier?”
The Navy’s high suicide rate over a lengthy period demonstrates the leadership’s tragically being unable to ameliorate the problem.

Pentagon Says that American Arms Industry is Struggling to Keep Up with China By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/04/pentagon-says-that-american-arms-industry-is-struggling-to-keep-up-with-china/

Despite historically being the most technologically advanced military in the world, the Department of Defense (DOD) admitted recently that the American military is now struggling to keep up the pace with China when it comes to the current high-tech arms race.

According to Politico, the Pentagon is set to release its first-ever “National Defense Industrial Strategy,” compiled by the Pentagon’s acquisition chief William LaPlante. The study is set to be a comprehensive observation of what the DOD needs to catch up with China in the development of new military technology, including the possibility of cooperation with smaller tech firms and traditional companies.

At this time, the American military “does not possess the capacity, capability, responsiveness, or resilience required to satisfy the full range of military production needs at speed and scale,” the report’s draft, dated November 28th, reads in part.

“Just as significantly,” the report continues, “the traditional defense contractors in the [defense industrial base] would be challenged to respond to modern conflict at the velocity, scale, and flexibility necessary to meet the dynamic requirements of a major modern conflict.”

The main problem, according to the report, is not that America cannot build the most advanced weapons in the world, but rather, it is incapable of producing them fast enough.

“This mismatch presents a growing strategic risk as the United States confronts the imperatives of supporting active combat operations…while deterring the larger and more technically advanced pacing threat looming in the Indo-Pacific,” the study states.

One Senator is Blocking Hundreds of Biden DEI Nominees From Taking Over the Military 40% have expressed support for the imposition of DEI policies upon our armed forces.” by Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/one-senator-is-blocking-hundreds-of-biden-dei-nominees-from-taking-over-the-military/

It’s unfortunate that the destruction of our military isn’t a bigger story and it’s also a shame that so few Republicans and conservatives have backed Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s principled stand to block Biden’s radical military nominees.

Senate Republicans are seeking to bypass his insistence that Biden’s nominees pass proper confirmation with appropriate scrutiny instead of being shoved through.

And that may mean the end of the military as an American institution committed to defending the nation. Instead, it will become another DEI operation.

As this letter from Save America’s Military warns, “independently conducted research has revealed that some 40% of the promotable officers now awaiting Senate approval have publicly expressed support for the imposition of Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies upon our armed forces.”

We’re talking about hundreds of DEI nominees. Here’s the kind of thing we’re talking about.

In the weeks following George Floyd’s death in 2020, a U.S. Air Force officer—currently awaiting promotion to brigadier general—accused his fellow “white colonels” of being the “biggest barriers” to addressing “racial injustice” in the military and being “blind to institutional racism.”

The Curious Case of Rob Malley by Peter Schweizer

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20166/rob-malley

More bad news for Malley emerged recently when a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails was revealed by Semafor and Iran International. In email exchanges between Iranian Foreign Ministry officials working under the supposedly moderate then President Hassan Rouhani, they congratulate each other for the public success of what they called the “Iran Experts Initiative (IEI),” a propaganda effort they created back in 2014, and reportedly “funded and directed by an IRGC official…

The IEI cultivated a network of sympathetic academics and intellectuals “with the aim of shaping political and public opinion as the Iranian government, then led by Hassan Rouhani, pursued a nuclear deal with the U.S.”

Other former officials told the Daily Caller that Malley and a previous advisor of his, Ariane Tabatabai, who holds a senior, security clearance level job at the Defense Department, are “compromised” and had no place running Washington’s Iran policy.

Tabatabai is still employed at the Pentagon where, noted the investigative reporter Lee Smith, “she has been serving as chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, Christopher Maier… Tabatabai’s emails show her enthusiastically submitting to the control of top Iranian officials, who then guided her efforts to propagandize and collect intelligence on U.S. and allied officials in order to advance the interests of the Islamic Republic.”

“The contents of the emails,” wrote Lee Smith, “are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime….

Tabatabai still has high-level security clearance and access to classified information. The FBI has reportedly “refused to remove her.” So, while Israel fights for its existence, a genocidal Iran is using three of its proxies — Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen — Tabatabai, who according to Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), “had the mission of influencing U.S. policymakers to agree with what the Iranian government wanted,” may be sending classified information about planned U.S. and Israeli military moves back to Iran…. What could possibly go wrong?

[The] use of the term “cosmopolitan” here hits on a core tenet of New Left ideology, where concern for one’s own country is seen as jingoism, and the welfare of other nations, even those openly hostile to the US, occupies the highest priority.

How was [Ms. Tabatabai’s] “top level security clearance” approved and why is she still employed in a senior position at the Pentagon?

[T]he case of Rob Malley indicates a deeper rot in our politics…. [Malley] is far closer to those Ivy League professors currently tweeting gleefully in favor of… the terrorist group Hamas, just to cite the most current example.

It is a wonder Malley ever passed a background check in the first place.